Orca Interaction

This Orca came over to look down at me. I gave her a signal to swim left, just to see if she would do it, and indeed she did. Later, he came back to watch me, and I could hear her sonar through the thick glass. I was lucky enough to talk to a couple of trainers during my visit.
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Taima and Tillikum swimming. Tillikum has killed his third human, Dawn Brancheau , 2/24/10. She was an experienced trainer, she knew not to swim with him, but he grabbed her and pulled her into the water against her will.
Dawn was in superb physical condition and was a skilled swimmer, but no match for the orca.
The attack occurred in front of the small audience of the "Dine with Shamu" show.
Tilly may have been bothered by renovations being done to a nearby pool.
Video of the attack exists but is not available to the public.
Reports conflict:
A trainer who watched the video claimed Dawn was lying in the water, close to the animal, in violation of the rules. She then made the fatal error of letting her pony tail drift in the water and Tillikum grabbed her by this ponytail.
An eye witness in the audience tells a different tale, saying that she was in fact standing and the whale leaped out of the water to grab her by her waist. He then shook her violently, even causing her shoe to fly off.
Seaworld president Dan Brown said in an official statement: "We have never, in the history of our parks, experienced an incident like this."
Seaworld purchased Tillium in 1991, after he killed Keltie Byrne, his trainer at Sea Land Marine Park Victoria, British Columbia.
In 1999, Daniel Dukes, a 27 year old man who sneaked past security was found dead, draped over Tillikum's back, with teeth marks on his body.
Other Seaworld whales have attacked other humans who escaped being killed.
Tillikum is a transient, mammal-eating orca.
He was taken from the wild, not captive breed.
Tillikum has passed his genes on to 13 killer whale calves through Sea World's breeding program.
More about transient orcas:
There are two sub-species of killer whales: residents, who are fish eaters, and transients, who are mammal eaters.
Transient orcas are not meant to live on fish according to their genes, instincts, and the skills they learn from observing their family members. These killer whales naturally kill and eat any other species of mammal available to them, including animals both smaller than themselves and lager. They NATURALLY grab and kill mammals who are on land near the edge of the water.
While Tilly could have been acting on anger, fear, frustration, or other emotion that would spark murderous behavior in a human, he might have been feeling something more akin to the joy a cat feels chasing a ribbon, or the satisfaction we feel when we obtain a favored food. No one knows. Orcas are large brained and emotional mammals, but they are not human.
Dawn Brancheau, rest in peace.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Orca
• Killer
• Whale
• Sea
• World
• Orcas
• Whales
• Shamu
• Communication
• swimming
• Tillikum
• Taima

[gdcardona91]

which sea world is this at cause here in san antonio they dont let you get up close to the tank like that

[Ichijojichan]

Orlando FL. And thanks for that bit of info about the one in San Antonio, I love to find out what these kinds of parks are like all over the world. There used to be one where you could pet orcas, in Canada, but from what I understand, it was really bad for the orcas and they had to close it.

[kassykalia]

She said she gave tai a signal but Taima is stubborn and probably got bored and left then came back.

[Ichijojichan]

Maybe. If I can visit again, I'll try it again to confirm.

[DarkTripods07]

poor orcas some poeple thinks is ok to see them like this =[

[elgranjava]

This orca wants to tell you that she needs to be free and wants her dorsal fin to be normal again.

[FutureOrkidTrainer]

You really shouldn't give them signals it can be very dangerous :/

[KingsProduction50]

do they listen if you give them signals ?

[Cjaztec1]

@elgranjava totally agree but the way these animals are marketed its hard for anyone with an initial interest to see this is not right. People who go to sea world are not evil haha but some of the intentions behind Sea World are not in the best interest of these animals. I mean you just have to ask yourselves how were they initially acquired to start the chain of horrors SeaWorld and other marine parks has to its name

[ShamuTrainerG]

@Ichijojichan They closed down the petting, but they still have the orcas there. You can still see Ikaika and Kiska at Marineland Canada, as well as dolphins, belugas ect

[Redsoxgurl1207]

@Ichijojichan OMG somehow i stumbled on this video and read this comment...just wanted to say that about 5 years ago maybe 4? I honestly can't remember...I went to the park in Canada youre talking about...it is called marine land and I got to pet the Orcas!!!!....I have always been literally obssesed w. them so my family took me to canada to go to the park as a surprise so i could pet the orcas...it was such an amazing expierence!!!

[taytayrocks101]

uhhh i think she was just swimming away lol...

[FreedomForOrcas]

How can we even define "human"? What does it mean to be "human"? If we can't define what it means, how can we measure other animals? We can't, and we are not supposed to measure other animals. They're in this world for their own reasons, not for ours or anyone else's.

Tilikum is an intelligent sentient creature. He is self-aware and probably feels emotions at a certain degree. To keep a creature of his size in a small tank is inherently cruel. Release Tilly to a seapen.

[1969lollieke]

@SaweeJoy Visiting marine parks is contributing to the captivity of these marine mammals. Orcas ain't put on this planet to be domesticated. They need to be free, swim in deep waters, not a shallow tank. Whatever people in Sea World may state, these animals ain't happy. If so, they wouldn't harm their trainers. Tilikum's behaviour can be explained as due to the stressful situation he's in. Somehow the people of SW just don't seem to get it. Instead, they put him in isolation. now he's depressed.

[ChristinaSwe]

Help all captive animals by doing something so easy as not attending the zoo, circus etc. I feel so bad for the orcas in this video, as I feel for all animals in captivity. Orcas are made to swim the oceans and live in big families, not to live in a crowded tank.. Take a look at Lolita in Miami and try to understand what it would be like to have her life.. SAVETHEWHALES:ORG

[Sakima636]

Tilikum is actually a resident killer whale from Norway... much like Keiko... so he did eat fish.